Probably a BBC mandate to say that, because the Beeb themselves want to erase that theory with The War Games in Colour.
Ahh, such a tragicomic story. But it’s good to hear that we could get more Rani! (I was going to page @sircarolyn, but she made it here just before I was done writing this post) and hoping BF gets the green light to use the Archite Panjabi version soon!
They laugh because they know it’s true…
How many peoppe can say that they released a new website in their 90s? That’s wild! Respect to the GOAT!
It’s not actually @ItsR0b0tNinja doing these. They are compiled by a user over on Reddit, and she has the permission to bring them over here, so she just copy-pastes them as is
Not really anything Doctor Who related this week, though one listener asked why the Star Cops range is moving to download only when the range has previously had CDs available. Nick understands the issue and apologizes, but forgoing the physical release lets them actually fund the project. So something like this could eventually happen to some Doctor Who ranges, and in fact already has with UNIT: Brave New World.
The Seventh Doctor Adventures: Past Forward is released, featuring the departure of Harry Sullivan and Naomi Cross, the arrival of Ray, and a chess set with pieces made of a very particular kind of stone…
The Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trip Opportunity has closed.
Friday, 13 June
The Doctor Who Monthly Adventures subscriptions will no longer be available after 30 June. While far less relevant since the range ended 4 years ago, it’s continued to be a good way to get bundles of audios at cheaper prices. Plus, certain subscriptions get you exclusive releases. So if you have any interest, act now.
Ending these aforementioned subscriptions is part of a larger initiative of Big Finish’s to change their bundles and offer a more flexible experience of saving money when ordering from their website.
I would assume these changes will largely be in line with what the failed website tried to implement, which gave you tiered discounts based on how many future releases you order (2 for 10% off, 3 for 15%, etc.)
Big Finish Book Club: Discounts on a specially selected Big Finish audio drama every month. June’s selection: Dalek Universe - The Dalek Protocol (Fourth Doctor) for just £4.99 on download.
Free Excerpt: Every month a 15 minute excerpt is chosen from an upcoming release to download for free. June’s selection: Space Security Service: The Voord in London. Just click the link and use this month’s discount code ANYA.
The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Ruins of Kaerula
The Remains of Kaerula
2.79/5
17 members
The Ruins of Kaerula
2.53/5
17 members
Cry of the Banshee
3.30/5
15 members
7
The Seventh Doctor Adventures: Past Forward
With the Angels Part 1
4.50/5
22 members
Catastrophix
3.37/5
19 members
With the Angels Part 2
4.29/5
17 members
1
Space Security Service: The Voord in London
The Voord in London
???/5
3 ratings
The Thal from G.R.A.C.E.
???/5
2 ratings
Allegiance
???/5
2 ratings
What Big Finish I Was Listening to This Week: Finished the new Fourth Doctor Adventures, and as has been typical for the range recently I wasn’t very impressed. The Seventh Doctor Adventures: Past Forward, on the other hand…just wow. A definite contender for best Weeping Angel story I’ve ever heard. And after a tease in Classic Doctors, New Monsters, we finally get Ray back!
Random Tangents: Nick and Benji come up with the name for a pub, The Crooked Putter, only to discover one already exists in Arizona. Benji becomes a bit obsessed with the menu, and Nick discovers sausage gravy.
Two new free Short Trips will be previewed and released live on Big Finish Day this Saturday, 21 June. These Short Trips are written by Jacqueline Rayner star Peter Purves to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Steven boarding the TARDIS.
Nick says that there is “some hope” of seeing the Rani return in Big Finish (those of you who read this weekly may remember that the holdup on new Rani stories at Big Finish for the last ten years was ultimately a simple clerical error on having the wrong street number when contacting the Baker estate).
Nick doesn’t quite understand why people get so excited about the Rani.
The Into the TARDIS podcast is brought up once again. Nick explains that it does take some amount of money to make that podcast, but they presumably did not have any noticeable success in boosting sales to justify paying that money for something that brought no revenue. But he’s glad it’s out there and that there is a way for people to get into ranges not available anywhere else for free.
A Sherlock Holmes enjoyer emails in to note they like the idea of the serialized weekly release schedule that Untold will adopt, and wonders if other ranges will possibly follow suit. Nick explains that this is a sort of test to see if people like that format, and if they do maybe it could be implemented for other Big Finish releases.
Nothing in the way of official news, but per Doctor Who Magazine it sounds like, as expected, RTD has no idea who Billie Piper is actually playing. Could be the Doctor, could be Rose, could be Bad Wolf, who knows.
MERCHANDISE NEWS:
The Fourteenth Doctor and the Meep Vortex Edition Figure Set is announced and released by Character Options on 16 June. This marks the second of five exclusive Vortex releases in 2025, following the Spring release of the Third Doctor and Sonic Screwdriver set. I’ve seen it reported that 80% of inventory has already sold, so act quick!
Doctor Who Magazine #618 is released on 19 June, featuring Billie Piper on the cover as…the Doctor?
Doctor Who: The Moon Cruise is announced, a new Fifteenth Doctor novel featuring the Doctor and Belinda, and writing by The Church on Ruby Sunday novelization scribe Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson.
Big Finish Book Club: Discounts on a specially selected Big Finish audio drama every month. June’s selection: Dalek Universe - The Dalek Protocol (Fourth Doctor) for just £4.99 on download.
Free Excerpt: Every month a 15 minute excerpt is chosen from an upcoming release to download for free. June’s selection: Space Security Service: The Voord in London. Just click the link and use this month’s discount code ANYA.
What Big Finish I Was Listening to This Week: Listened to Space Security Service: The Voord in London. I thought the opening story was quite good, but the second was hard to follow and the third just wasn’t very engaging. Every story on the set is also at least an hour long, which I really think puts some people off a new release like this, myself included. I wish more Big Finish releases targeted 45-50 minutes stories if only to have better pace. Especially on the digital only releases, you could add a fourth story if you just cut 15 minutes out of three hour-long stories. I know it’s probably not that simple, but just a thought. I’ve also only been able to listen to the opening story of Time War Uncharted 2: Pursuit, but I thought it was quite good and a strong start to the set.
Random Tangents: The Crooked Putter returns! Nick and Benji are a bit perplexed by a note on the menu that you get “your choice of toast” (if that’s not a thing in the UK, then I guess I’ll be the first to explain you usually get offered white, wheat, sourdough, and possibly one other type like multigrain). Nick notes that in the UK the only choice you get is white or brown, to which he always replies “it all ends up brown in the end.”
True but that’s also a writer skill issue. The Rani could easily be her own character, and indeed is, people are just obsessed with the Master[1] and can’t write women
possibly controversially i don’t get the Master love tbh ↩︎
Because she’s amazing? Because she’s a really fun character? Because the actors are great? Because it’s really hot when women are evil and want to do experiments on you?
Tell that to RTD. But even in the O’Mara version she wasn’t that interesting. It didn’t help that she only appeared twice, during the death rattle era of the show & one of those times she had to share screen time with the Master.
